


Live or Let De [Redux]

by BlytheAdorable



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Gen, Pre-Shippuden
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 23:26:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17212826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlytheAdorable/pseuds/BlytheAdorable
Summary: Thirteen years ago on October 10, the Fourth Hokage was presumed dead.An AU retelling of a fic by the same name on ff.net.





	Live or Let De [Redux]

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Live or Let Die](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/444554) by Usagi Selene. 



> I just got in from a run, and my hands are freezing! 
> 
> Welcome to my retelling of an old fic, Live or Let Die. It was one of my first forays into fanfic writing, and it's honestly really terrible (some of you still think my writing is terrible and hell you're probably right about that). It's been on my mind to rewrite it for years, and I'm finally getting around to it. Read the original if you like, it's on ff.net; I'm keeping the core concept but let's see if my writing has improved at all over the years haha. I disabled anon commenting because I don't trust those lovely commenters from my other stories to be nice and judge this story by its own merits, sorry about that. 
> 
> First chapter is short, the rest will be a good bit longer.

Minato would later reflect that the entire night had an ominous feel to it right from the start. Clouds had quickly begun to gather as sunset approached, and by the time Kushina was seriously into her labor thunder was a steady growl in the background.

He hated to focus so much on himself, but he was a nervous wreck. The small building that Kushina had been sequestered in to give birth was sweltering, so unusual for October. Everything was stifling, the air thick with her labor pains and sluggish with tension. Sweat ran down his neck and back as he directed chakra to the seal on his wife's writhing belly, all his focus on containing the malevolent consciousness that had stirred to devastating wakefulness at her first contraction.

"Ahh!" Kushina cries out sharply, her body attempting to curl in on itself in some primal urge to expel the child from her body. Her voice was hoarse with pain as her labor wore on, but her face was set with determination. Every once in a while she would catch his eyes, and the hard line of her mouth would soften into a reassuring smile. Minato wondered at her strength that she could find it within herself to spare even a moment's thought on him when she was engaged in something so terrifying and wonderful.

He would be strong for her, he decided, and keep up as strong and unshakeable a front as she was, but as late evening dragged into early night, Minato could not stop himself from breaking that resolve and murmuring senseless platitudes into his struggling wife's ear. She rewarded him with more of her strained smiles, and for a few scant seconds he was able to pretend that they were a normal couple anxiously awaiting the birth of their child.

"Come on out, Naruto! Fox, you stay in!" He blurted our, and with a laugh that was much closer to a snarl, Kushina gave birth to their son.

Everything after was a blur.

Happiness. _His son was so tiny and cute!_

Shock. _Where did that man come from?_

Rage. _How dare he threaten Naruto's life!_

Panic, tempered. _Kushina!_

_The coolness of battle. Relief followed swiftly._

_The man was gone, but tagged. No time for concern; there was more to do._

_Ears pricked at the sound of destruction; malevolent chakra flowing like a waterfall. The fox spirit._

_Determination, then; a duty that superseded all else._

_He would do what he had to, no matter the cost to himself._

_Gamabunta beneath his feet, cloak billowing in the wind behind him. This would be the last time._

_The fox was distracted, good._

_A warm, precious weight cradled in his arms; his wife beside him, her life ebbing slowly away._

_No! He would save her; he would save them both._

_She was talking, pleading, but it was too late; the seals had been made, the deal sealed, but something was...no. No time to think about it, he had work to do._

_Pain. Pain like he'd never known existed, like fire coursing through his every vein. An infant's plaintive cry._

_He followed it into darkness._


End file.
